Where did He go?
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Luke 2:41-46 (NKJV)
41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; 44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.
As we see in the text, “the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem.” This scripture never ceases to amaze me every time I read it. The parents of Jesus lost Him! I know that it shouldn’t surprise me that His own parents lost Him because I know at times in my life I have definitely lost Him. There have been days that I feel like I have wandered so far away from Jesus that I have completely lost Him. I am probably safe to say that most of you have felt the same way.
I am not talking about losing your salvation. That is something that you can never lose once you attain it through the blood of Jesus Christ. Once saved, always saved. I truly believe that God is not an “Indian giver.” His Word assures us of that. I am talking about losing sight of Jesus in your heart and daily walk. It can happen and I hope to elaborate on how it can happen.
Christ Can Be Lost
The scripture above demonstrates that Christ can be and was lost. And he was lost by those who loved Him. And lost in Jerusalem and in the Temple! And yet why be astonished when the same thing is happening today. Christ is still lost by his friends, and in Jerusalem and in the Temple.
When we ask the question, how can Christ be lost; we must be honest to ourselves to find the answer. Many of you may feel like Christ has left your life and you have no reason for it. Some of you may know what happened. Some of you may feel that Christ can never leave you. I am here to tell you that we have full control of the closeness that we have with Christ!
One reason that some of you may have lost Christ is because of the hustle and bustle of life. Losing Christ doesn’t mean that you have to commit flagrant, blatant sins. You may just be so busy, that Christ is not a part of your life.
Joseph and Mary were so busy buying, and selling and getting ready for travel that their eyes got off Jesus and they drifted apart. Many have done just the same since. They never intended the thing to happen, but they became so absorbed that it did. In some of these cases there was no flagrant sin, but strange to say while attending to a business or occupation that was legitimate and proper they gradually let go of Christ. They were busy buying and selling, taking care of the children, attending to the husband and running around generally, when lo the loss was discovered. There were hours of laughing and talking, days were consumed in entertaining company, contact with many people distracted and diverted the mind so that one night in going to bed there was no Christ in the heart. They were fairly jostled out of the divine companionship by the multitude; and as a good man once said: "I was bustled out of my spirituality."
Another reason that you may have lost Christ is because you are so busy with the Church.
It is a fearful thought to think that Jesus is parted with in the service of God. But just as Joseph and Mary got separated from him in Jerusalem, it has often been and still is the case. It was what happened to Eli's sons who became corrupt in the priesthood. It was what took place with Judas who retrograded from an apostle to a thief, betrayer and self–murderer. It is what is happening in a number of, pulpits today. Preachers are losing Christ; the dark sad face, hard tone, and unction less sermon are unmistakable. Deacons and church board members are so focused on the administrative duties that the focus on Jesus has been put on the back burner.
Many of you may be so focused on your entertainment in the church that you forgot that praise and worship was for the Lord, not the people in the pews. Who are you glorifying? Glory to the people at your service or to God? It’s no wonder that Jesus is wondering away in the church today! Preachers in the pulpit are talking more about God sending a financial breakthrough than they are talking about God’s grace and our growing in relationship with Him! No wonder God is drifting away from the church and peoples lives!
I know some churches that close there doors when most of the congregation is on vacation for spring break or the 4th of July! How about having prayer service for the members that aren’t out of town! Where has the commitment gone? No wonder Jesus is wandering away! Churches today treat Jesus as a visitor and not a permanent resident!! Jesus is not a uniform that should only be put on at Sundays and occasionally some Wednesdays! Jesus is Life not just a part of life. No wonder Jesus is absent! Have you lost Jesus?
How is Christ Lost
The first answer suggested by the circumstances in the passage before us is that it is done through carelessness. What but needlessness could have allowed Joseph and Mary to be separated from the Savior? And the same thing today is the explanation when such a trouble befalls the soul. The Scripture expressly urges to watchfulness. It is while the virgins slumbered the midnight cry was raised; it was while the man slept that his enemy sowed tares in his field. And what I say unto one I say unto all, "Watch."
But how does the thing itself happen? What are the steps of this departure?
Christ is lost gradually. God loves us too much to leave us all at once. The same way a ship sails away until you can no longer see it in the distance is the same way that God drifts away. God will give gentle and tender warnings of the drift, but we must be sensitive to hear and see the drifting away of Jesus. The instant we cease moving on the parallel of a perfectly consecrated life, the fact of spiritual distance and the additional fact of an ever widening distance between us and Him, and the final disappearance of Christ out of the heart and life become as veritable a reality and as patent to other eyes as the spectacle of the parted ships on the ocean. It seems that not by one great evil act are men parted from the Lord, but it is by a number of little acts, none of which are very grave and alarming. Just as a person does not get off of a high tower by jumping down from the top, but descends by hundreds of steps to the ground; so the Christian rarely ever brings himself down and away from the presence of Christ by one gross sin; but it is by a long line of little things said and done which were unspiritual, objectionable and reprehensible in an increasing degree that the calamity of a lost Christ takes place. One of the alarm signals hung out in the soul is a protracted spiritual coldness. Instead of going at once into a faithful self–examination and prayerful waiting upon God for help, this signal is made to mean nothing by the statement that the Christian life is a faith life and not one of feeling. It is true the life is one of faith, but it is also one of feeling. The Bible says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength," and Christ said, "These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." In the book of Revelation the fault that the Savior found with a certain church was that it had lost its first love, and in another verse he said he would spew a lukewarm church out of his mouth. A protracted spiritual–coldness means that Christ is leaving, and we should at once fly to Him and wait on Him until the clear assurance of His presence is restored.
Another way that Christ is lost by the Christian is by getting the eye off Christ and resting it on church work. This is what happened to the Jews. With all their boasted love of the Lord they let the Temple and Temple work come in between them and the Holy One. Devoted to the Temple, they killed the Lord of the Temple. How busy they were when Jesus stood in their midst silently contemplating them! There was no end to religious ceremonies, the victims were being slain by thousands, the smoke of incense was rising, the priests and Levites were regular in their duties, the Scribes and Pharisees were fasting twice a week and saying long prayers; and yet in the midst of it all Jesus saw spiritual death, and said that the outside was as fair as a glistening marble tomb, but inside was corruption and dead men's bones.
The thought is fearful that we can get the eye off of Christ while abounding in His work. That we can lose Him at the altars of Jerusalem and in the Temple. That loaded down with church work, writing business letters, attending Board and committee meetings, keeping the church books and passing around the collection basket, we can become so absorbed in these things as to utterly lose Christ.
I believe if we knew how many men and women prominent in the church, how many ushers who are smilingly seating the congregation every Sabbath, how many Sunday–school teachers and members of the choir and preachers in the pulpit have lost Christ out of their hearts, the world would be horrified. We do not mean that they are living immoral lives, but they have been more loyal to church work than to Jesus, and the jealous God is grieved and gone. The dark and sad countenances we often see in the pew, choir and pulpit confirm what I say.
It is never to be forgotten that it is easier to attend windy Board and Society meetings in the name of the Lord than to spend the same hour alone on the knees with Christ. There is much pastoral visiting called the work of the Lord that amounts to nothing. It is easier to pay a social visit than to wait with groanings on the Lord. The jealous God sees how much work undertaken in His name deserves not the name and is simply a sop thrown out to ease conscience.
It is happening today as much as in the times of the Scribes and Pharisees that the Temple is put in the place of the Lord; the House and its services are exalted and the Lord of the House is set aside. Today some of the most active church workers have the most superficial experience; and some have none, having lost it all by placing the work above Christ, and the Temple above the Lord of the Temple.
Mistakes People Make on Discovering the Loss of Christ
The first mistake appears in the sentence "they went a day's journey" without Him. They were separated from Him, did not see Him, and yet pushed on a whole day's journey. It is what many are doing today. They lose Christ and go on their way. Here is the first mistake, and it not infrequently ends fatally. The thing to do when we miss the Savior is to stop everything until we find Him. Let no one think it a loss of time, for when He is in the heart you can speak, write, work and live a thousand times more effectively.
A second mistake comes out in the words, "They supposed He was in the company."
What if He was, He was not with them. A man to be happy must have Christ in his heart as a conscious, personal possession. It is and should be a poor comfort to one to feel that Christ is in the congregation or household and not in himself. There is neither joy nor salvation in this fact. Some husbands shelter themselves with the thought that their wives are religious, but a child could tell them that this alone will never save them. We must repent of our sins and put our faith and trust in the Savior Jesus Christ in order to be saved.
Yet, we have many churches today that will not even talk about sin and repentance. No wonder Jesus is drifting away!
A third mistake is seen in the sentence, "they sought Him among their kinsfolk."
You would be amazed at how many people that you are related to do not know or have Christ in their hearts. Ask them. Find out the answers from them. You can’t! You have to seek Jesus for yourself. You can not judge the closeness of Jesus from anyone else’s relationship with Him. It is all about a personal journey between Christ and you alone!
A fourth mistake is seen committed by the Caravan or large company with whom Joseph and Mary were traveling. Although Christ had been left behind they never turned back! Jesus was missing, but they went on. I can see the long winding line as they threaded the ravines and pushed across the plain. They camp that night without Jesus, and next morning start out again without Jesus, and so pass away out of Judea and Galilee into the great world beyond and Jesus has been left behind.
With the deepest compassion I see the crowds of this world doing the same thing! They toil and travel all day without Christ; they go home and get up without Him, and push on the next day, and the next, and the next and always without Jesus. They have music, papers, books, pleasures, travel and business, but they do not have Jesus. They do not seem to realize the dreadfulness of their loss, and so push on in life's Caravan talking, laughing, singing, loving, hating, camping, sleeping, arising again, pushing on further and further until we see them go out from under and beyond the horizon of our lives and disappear from our view forever. How we feel like calling them to come back; telling that they can never meet the dangers, nor stand the toils, nor live right nor die victoriously without Jesus. And we do call to them; but few seem to turn back. The great mass pushes on without the Savior whom they have left far behind forever.
This is what to Do When Christ is Lost
The true way is shown in the conduct of Joseph and Mary,—"they turned back again seeking Him." There is nothing else to do if we would find Christ. If we went away from Him we must return to Him.
Necessarily it is a sorrowful seeking. The thought is quite a bitter one that through our own carelessness and neglect of duty the separation was brought about. It is never a good feeling to cry to the Lord for forgiveness of letting something come between us and Him. Shame and regret are never comforting. It is a sad occurrence, but God will forgive, even when we feel as though we cannot forgive ourselves.
I have noticed also in many instances that it takes longer to recover the Savior than to lose him. Joseph and Mary lost Him in a few minutes or hours, but it was three days before they got him back. This is not compelled to be the case, but through the heartsickness and mental bewilderment arising from the separation, the soul loses much time in finding the path of return.
Still it will be a glad seeking, for with all the pain of recollected unfaithfulness and all the sorrow of the separation, the thought that he now is going back to Christ will of itself be an inspiring and glad thought to the wanderer. Sad as his heart may be, his case is unspeakably better than the man who remains wallowing in his sins far from the Savior. Better far to turn back with tears, like Joseph and Mary, than to go on with laughter and chatter like the Caravan.
Moreover it is to be remembered that Christ is not far away. The Scripture is authority for saying he is not far from any one of us. And in the case before us, when Joseph and Mary turned back from Beeroth to Jerusalem to seek Christ they were separated then from him just eight miles. This is the exact distance between the two places. In other words, they were about two hours' journey from the Lord, and I cannot help but think that most people are not more widely separated from Jesus than this. I firmly believe that two hours spent on the face in tears, repentance, faith and prayer, would in the case of the great majority of spiritual wanderers restore them to the loving embrace of the Son of God.
Christ is not far off from the saddest, hardest and worst. He walked in the midst of publicans and sinners while on earth, and are near them today in His great mercy. He is oftentimes much closer than men dream. He walked by the side of two heartsick disciples for several hours before they knew Him, and stood before the weeping Mary in the garden before she recognized His voice and form. The very burden on the heart is His own begun work. The heartsickness that so discourages is the result of the light that He has poured in, while the pain of soul shows life and godly sorrow. The dead do not grieve nor feel pain. The living does that. The very shadow that you feel may come from His blessed form bending over you.
It is wonderful how utterly unable one is to judge and understand these phases of feeling and all the phenomena of the soul's return to God, while personally separated from Jesus. The sinner who is convicted does not know what the matter is, and the backslider returning to God fails to realize that the sorrow which bows him down is one of the drawings of heaven, is the direct work of the Holy Ghost, and is no occasion for despair, but of confidence and gladness.
Still another feature of the recovery of Christ is that you will find Him where you left him. It was in Jerusalem they became separated from Jesus, and it was in Jerusalem they recovered him. It is right where you left Christ you will find Him. Certain things were done or left undone, and right there today you must return. You dropped certain duties, and there is Christ waiting for you to resume them. The burden lay upon you by the Providence of God you cast off; the cross of Christ you laid aside for awhile; and so the glory faded out of your life. The thing to do is to go back where you threw off the cross and burden, and patiently take them up again. You will find Christ there at that place and at that moment. He is waiting for you.
Still again, I notice that the text says that the sorrowing parents found "Jesus in the Temple." So it will be with you. The house of God is the best of places to find Christ.
Fall on your face and praise God for giving you the ability to realize that you lost Him. Cry out to the Lord and He will heal your broken heart.
The Way to Keep from Losing Jesus
First, keep the eye fixed steadily upon Him. Suppose Joseph and Mary had done this, then the separation which cost them such solicitude and pain would never have occurred. The thing to do is to allow no object come between us and Christ. Keep the eye on Jesus, not occasionally, but fixedly and continually. It can be done, thank God, in the busiest life. So Paul says, "Looking unto Jesus." Not looking to the Temple, but to Jesus. There are some people who are absorbed in the church rather than Christ. And there is no question that if they paid as much attention to Jesus as they do the church they would be accomplishing so much for the Kingdom!
Second, keep talking to God. We must be steadfast in our prayer. Not just a prayer every now and then, but diligently praying and seeking the face of God. It is impossible to lose someone if you are continually talking to them. We read in Genesis that when Abraham ceased communing with God, then the Lord went up from him. It is so still. If we would retain Christ by our side we must see to the unbroken communion of our soul with His Spirit.
Third, get Christ as a resident. Many of God's people know him as a visitor, as one who comes and goes, visiting the heart and then leaving it. It is in these conscious absences that so much spiritual hurt is realized, and Satan gets in his work. There is an experience which greatly increases our religious strength and so lessons the likelihood and peril of backsliding. This experience is spoken of by the Savior in the fourteenth chapter of John where He says if we love Him and keep His commandments He will come unto us and take up His abode with us. In a word, He will cease to be a visitor and become a resident. He who would keep Christ near all the time should seek this blessing. The wonder with me is how a man can lose the Savior when he obtains this grace.
Finally, keep claiming "the blood." If the slightest shadow and spiritual trouble arises, if there has been any neglect of duty, any word spoken or act done that brings a shadow or feeling of unrest, then fly at once to the blood that cleanses from all Bin, and claim its present merit and power. There is such a thing as staying under the blood all the time. He that does that will hardly lose Christ. Thousands have lived this life; ten thousands are living it today; and countless millions will yet do so. God grant that you who have Christ today will never lose Him. It would be better to part with friends, the whole world and life itself, than to give up Jesus.
Never forget the cross! It is by the cross that Jesus died and became our Savior. Forget not that the cross is our representation of redemption and salvation. Always remember the cross and give thanks to the Lord. Jesus is risen and will be with you at all times, but only if we make Him the center and the fullness of all our being.
May God bless you.
